The Press., 1887-11-24
MARRIED woMEN,s NIcKNAMes.
The Odd Ways fin Which the Rdlers at
 Saratoga Address Their Wives. L

The Odd Ways fin Which the Hdlsrs at
 Saratoga Address Their Wives.
 When a lounger on the vernnda of one of the big hotels at this place hears a man say "Hurry up, little one," or Come along, birdie, he may be sure that it is a husband addressing his wife and that she is enormously fat. Apparently all hus- bands of fat women address their wives with diminutives, if not with nicknames lit only for small women or little girls. Daisy" Birdie" and Baby" appear to be the pet names most favored by the hus- bands of mammoth women. In this haven of conjugal rest, for Saratoga is distinc- lively for married couples and has less conveniences and attractions for lovers than any place in America, one gets Q deep knowledge of the ways of welded folk. This matter of nicknames for wives is one of the most interesting studies. To pursue this branch of learning it is only necessary to sit for an hour or two, on any afternoon, while the music is playing in the inner garden either of the United States hotel or of the Grand Union. All the rest the married couples will do for the student. They will talk unguardedly in his hearing, and he will soon be able to classify the couples and the pet names, for certain names go with certain sorts of couples as infallibly as pie goes with sup per in New England.
 The very swell and exquisite young married men, who dress vainly and seek to give the impression that they belong to the F. c. D. O., dance at Delmonico's and know all the fellows who have yachts, call their wives with monosyllables, such as Fuss, Chris, Hen, Fan, Loo, Tot There seems to be only one marked ex- ception in the list You often hear one of these wives called "Popsy." There are two Popsies at the States and there is one at the Union. Oddly enough, the fathers of these same fellows, men so well kept that you can't say whether they are 45 or 65, are fond of drawling out the full names of their helpmeets, as, for instance, ''Come heah, Frarnces," or "Now, my deah Eleanor, you must have a wrap." '" Equally fixed is the rule that thin and sickly women, dyspeptics, neuralgics, and the like, are addressed by their liege lords as wife, madame, or Misses Thompson, Misses Brown, or whatever. The invalid husbands, and all the prlm and precise ones as well, address their better halves as ''my dear" This, by the way, is the established custom with the Hebrews, though they usually are heard to pro- nounce the words ''mine teer" The clergymen seem to have united upon the word "mother" as a title for their wives, and the men who are so common here, and who seem to be wrapped up in m only girl or boy, call their wives ''ma."
 Other nicknames resist classification thus far though perhaps the key to all can be found by diligent application. There is no end to the Dolltes and the ''my loves" " while one hears a miscellaneous l lot of passersby addressing their comrades as "Pet." One plump little wife is grad uaIly becoming known to everybody in one of the hotels as Sugar" |" the nick name her husband calls out assiduously and loudly all day in the parlors and on the promenades. The temptation for others to call her Sugar is growing pain. | ful. She is not the only feminine confec. tion, for, at the States, there is 0 dimpled brunette who answers to her husband as "Sweety, v and yesterday 0 very prim looking wife, somewhat the shape of 6 board, was addressed as Sweetness" be- fore all the crowd at the spring in Con gress park. It may be an oversight, but there does not seem to be 'darling" in town. A muddy faced, corpulent man oi l 40, who looks as if he had been born and brought up in the Stock Exchange, always addresses his wife as "Precious, and iI the same hotel @ husband, who appears tc hail from the west, replies to his wife with "Yes, Pigeon, " "An right, Pigeon" an6 so on. As it happens, there is something about the wife's appearance or manner, ol perhaps it is her shape, that renders this oldest of nicknames peculiarly appropri ate. The young fellows who are spending their time in pulling the down on theil upper lips are fond of pointing out Sugar to all their acquaintances, and in another week they will doubtless add Pigeon to their stock of fun.-Saratoga Cor | New York Sun.